Hi-Def in Your Hand

The Sony HDR-HC1 Handycam camcorder brings hi-def video shooting to a consumer level with its (comparatively) low price of around $2,000.

The Sony HDR-HC1 Handycam camcorder brings hi-def video shooting to a consumer level with its (comparatively) low price of around $2,000. The new camcorder is the little sibling of Sony's $3,700 HDR-FX1, the first 1080i high-definition camcorder. The HC1 has a smaller widescreen LCD (2.7 inches to the FX1's 3.5 inches) and 10X optical zoom instead of 12X. It adds touch-screen and still-shooting capabilities, and also includes a Carl Zeiss lens, image stabilization, an infrared night-shooting mode, and a pop-up flash for shooting 3-megapixel still images.

Kyle Monson is the Senior Editor for PCMag.com. He oversees and edits PCMag.com’s home page and product news coverage, and helps out with site maintenance and editing. He also oversees feature projects like the Top 100 Web Sites, and writes reviews and news stories.
Kyle is the Founding Editor of AppScout, a PCMag.com-affiliated blog covering software and Web applications.
Before joining the PC Magazine staff, Kyle wrote for Newsweek and several daily newspapers. He has a BA in Communications (Print Journalism) from Brigham Young University.
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